The Beaumont Children. Sarah M. Anderson

      He pulled the ring out of his pocket. “Would it be bad? Between us, I mean.”

      “I just need to know what to expect, that’s all. One minute you’re mad at me and the next you’re cooking for me and saying I’ll have my own room and then you’re kissing me and offering me a ring—is it a family ring?”

      He slipped the diamond out of the case and held it in the palm of his hand. “No. I bought it this morning.” Something that wasn’t tainted by her family name or his. Something that was theirs and theirs alone.

      “Oh, okay. I guess it doesn’t matter.”

      That made him smile. “It matters. I don’t even know what Percy’s full name is—is it Harper or Beaumont?”

      “Percy Harper Beaumont. You’re listed on the birth certificate as his father. But I gave him my name as a middle name.”

      She’d given the boy Byron’s name. For some reason, that made him happy. He stepped back into her and lifted her head up so he could look her in the eye. “Thank you for that.”

      Her eyelids fluttered. “You’re doing it again,” she murmured.

      “Leona.” He cupped her face in his hands and waited until she looked him in the eyes. “You know what I want. The question is, what do you want?” As he recalled, she was the one who’d asked for a separate bed yet had also kissed him back twice now.

      “We need to get going,” she replied, completely ignoring his question. “May will worry.” And with that, she turned and walked back to her car.

      Byron stared after her for a moment and then shoved the ring in his pocket.

      Beaumonts fought for what they wanted...to hell with what anyone else said.

      Leona was about to learn how far he’d go to get what he wanted.

Eight

      Leona fumbled with the keys in the lock of her apartment door. She didn’t know why she was more nervous bringing Byron home with her this time, but she was. Even now, he stood too close to her, watching her. Waiting, no doubt, for an answer to his question.

      If only she knew what she wanted.

      “May?” She called out when she finally got the door open. “We’re home.”

      Percy made a shrill noise. “Hi, baby,” Leona said, walking into the living room and picking him up. “Did you miss me?”

      May stood and said, “The doctor prescribed more drops. They’re on the changing table.”

      “Thanks,” Leona said.

      There was an awkward pause as May glared at Byron without actually looking at him. “Right. I’ll be back late.”

      “Have fun,” Leona called after her as May grabbed her jacket and her purse.

      That only got her a dirty look. Then May was gone.

      Byron sighed. “I actually asked the Realtor if she could find us a place with a nice one-bedroom close by. I get the feeling May might not want to look at me every day.”

      “I’m not sure if she’s going to move or not,” Leona told him. If she didn’t, Leona would have to keep paying rent on the apartment. Which might not be a bad plan—if it didn’t work out with Byron, she could come back. “Here, hold Percy. I’ve got to change.”

      Byron sat down on the couch again and took the baby. Today, he looked slightly more confident. Or, at the very least, he looked less panicked. “How’s my boy today?”

      Percy made a face at him.

      Leona hurried back to her room and changed into one of her prettier casual tops and a pair of jeans. She was not dressing for Byron’s approval, not really. She was just being...comfortable.

      Yeah, right.

      When she got back to the living room, she found Byron and Percy stretched out on the floor together, both on their tummies. Byron was smiling at Percy, encouraging him. Leona wanted to stand there and watch them. This was what she’d dreamed of before Byron left her—having him all to herself, with no Beaumonts and no Harpers around to complicate things. They were going to have a family one day—they’d talked about it.

      And then he’d gone and proved himself to be a Beaumont just like all the rest. He’d left her, like her father had always warned her Beaumonts did. And now he was back, issuing orders and expecting them to be followed to the letter.

      She couldn’t trust him. All this stuff he was doing—the ring, the apartment, talking about being a family—all of it was because he thought he wanted it. It had nothing to do with what she wanted. And the moment he changed his mind, it could all be taken away from her again.

      She wanted to tie herself to a man she could count on, a man who would not treat her as if she were a ball and chain around his neck like her father treated her mother, and yet would also not treat her as if she were disposable and forgettable like all Beaumonts treated women.

      She wanted stability and happiness and safety for herself, her son and her sister.

      There’d been a time when she’d thought Byron was all of that and more.

      She could not make that mistake a second time.

      She focused on the safety and happiness of her son because right now, that was the thing that drove every other action. She would sacrifice her own heart to save his. “Having fun?”

      “I was curious to see if he’d roll over,” Byron replied, propping himself up on his elbow.

      “He hasn’t gotten that far yet.” She sat down on the floor on the other side of Percy. “How are your ears, baby?”

      Percy made a grunting noise as he tried to push himself up. “I know,” she told the baby. “It’s so hard to look around when you’re on your tummy.”

      She rubbed his back and looked at Byron. He was staring at her as if he’d never seen her before. “What?”

      “You haven’t answered my questions—any of them.”

      “Ask me again,” she told him, steeling herself to making it official.

      “Will you move in with me?”

      Letting Percy have this—a loving relationship with his father? Even if it meant torturing herself with her greatest love and her greatest mistake every single day for the rest of her life?

      It was no contest.

      “Yes.”

      “Will you come with me tomorrow to look at places? You can bring Percy, too, since he’s going to be living there. He might have an opinion.”

      She couldn’t help but grin. It was a thoughtful thing to say. If only everything he said and did was that thoughtful. “Yes.”

      He stared at her for a moment longer. There was something in his eyes, something deep and serious. “Will you marry me?”

      She needed to say yes. For Percy. But... “I need to know what this marriage will actually be before I agree to it.”

      He raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

      “Will you see other women?”

      “No.” He didn’t hesitate at all, which was good, she guessed. There was a pause. “You?”

      “No. I have too much on my plate to even think about dating.”

      That got her a nice smile. “So we’re agreed. No seeing other people. What else?”

      Just the small matter of the facts. And the fact was that Beaumonts always cheated. Hardwick Beaumont always took the kids. Beaumonts were not to be trusted,